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For most of the second half of the 20th century, a cold war raged between the world's two superpowers. While battles were never fought on either country's land, plans were made to take the war into the high frontier of outer space. 
From 1950 to 1980 the space race defined the furthest limits of the Coldwar. The short span of years from 1959 to 1969 saw the most significant advances in manned space technology and politics. Today, the International Space Station is the living legacy of the peaceful outcome of those days.
But there is also a darker side to the history of manned spaceflight: during those years, both the United States and the Soviet Union planned to take warfare into orbit. Few of these stories of the space race have ever come to light. And as the United States is now moving towards re-establishing a significant military presence in orbit, it is interesting to look back at that time... and wonder what might have happened.
The images shown are all my own renderings of spacecraft which were planned but never flew operationally, some cancelled before they even left the drawing board. All of the spacecraft shown here are based on historic fact, and their role in the historical record is only now becoming clear.
Deep Cold by Dan Roam. All text and images © 2000 |
